Gas $1.75 a gallon, Damn

here we go again....oil companies don't set the price of oil, the world markets do. just check out the nymex or ipe and see what the price is before you all go pointing fingers and claiming some kind of constitutional right to cheap gas !
oil companies have better margins when the price of oil on the markets is low. the higher base price squeezes their profitability; which is only partially made up in the higher valuation of their proven reserves.

yes gas prices seem high to you, but its an accumulation of factors that has gotten us there - venezuelan strike last year, iraq war, opec discipline, surprise increase in chinese consumption etcetc. it doesn't hurt that the usa is still the consumer of 50pct of the world's oil and that appetite is not going down, and so far has proven extremely price inelastic......

the prices you will see at the pump are ultimately reflective of the world's supply/demand equilibrium of the moment. just be glad the government doesn't tax the hell out of it like they do in europe.

 

$1.60 here in the middle of nowhere. And that is from the station I go to. I am far away from town. In town, it is like $1.50 or so.